In a smart home system, a control center is generally required to control and query various devices connected thereto. Therefore, the control center and every connected device have to be always kept in a powered-up state. Statistical analysis of electricity consumption respectively for all connected devices is needed to identify electricity usage of each connected device from time to time.
In conventional technology, a switch with electricity meter is used to count electricity consumption of a device controlled by the switch. In the smart home system, a switch with electricity meter may be used for every connected device to monitor the electricity consumption of every connected device. After that, a user may read respective electricity meters, and then perform a statistical analysis of electricity usage for every connected device.
However, in the above manner, the number of connected devices corresponds to the number of switches with electricity meter. That is, if there are N connected devices, N switches each having an electricity meter need to be installed, and thus N electricity meters are required. Therefore, the number of required electricity meters is relative larger, which results in a certain waste. Moreover, each electricity meter has to be read manually before corresponding statistics are made, which requires more effort from the user and causes inconvenient operation.